Chapter: 81. Engagement (4k2)
“I see… Is it the power of ‘authority’?”
Aside from Misa and the bald judge, the first one to react was the most experienced ace elder.
He was still puzzled, thinking even if all of this were a “show”, how could a student reasonably confront several ace-level superhumans in a “simulated combat”?
Nagi’s earlier strike answered his doubts.
As long as the powerful authority was given to this student before the battle, even against ace-level superhumans, it was entirely possible to put on a spectacular fight.
After all, even ace-level superhumans cannot confidently assert they “will never lose” when faced with some authorities possessing special abilities.
—But isn’t the reaction a bit exaggerated?
His gaze shifted to the ace-level superhuman who had just been sent flying, silently sighing while feeling somewhat speechless.
During informal conversations prior, he had heard that this sister duo seemed willing to “cooperate for the show” to enhance the effect of this assessment.
However, from the earlier scene, the opponent’s reaction of being “flown out of the arena” was overly dramatic.
Based on his combat experience and understanding of “authority”, the authority wielded by the opponent did not seem to be of the type that enhances attack power. Combined with that “handgun-like” fantasy weapon, compressing magical power should not have been able to send an ace-level superhuman flying without resistance, right?
The elder snorted in his heart, somewhat disdainful of the sisters’ theatricality.
According to the rules just established.
When the candidate before him launched an attack, it effectively announced the official start of the “simulated combat”.
Now, aside from the twin sister who was looking back at her injured sister, Misa and the bald judge in front of the elder still had not taken any action and showed no intention of attacking.
This scene caught the elder’s attention, and he gently sighed.
He had no intention of participating in this seemingly scripted “assessment play”.
Whether it was the S-class “Mimicry” from the Star Academy or “Mana”, the current head of the academy, he was not looking to please anyone.
—Whether she passes the assessment, let it depend on your own strength, Kamidai Akane.
In the next moment, his previously lazy eyes suddenly sharpened like a blade, and magical brilliance erupted violently from the depths of his pupils.
In his view, authority could not be truly considered the “strength” belonging to this student.
So he decided to take the authority away from her.
Then evaluate her remaining strength.
The air in the main gymnasium suddenly became dense.
As if wrapped in a mass of invisible gel, the world lost its flow in an instant, falling into a bizarre slow motion.
This was the elder’s super ability.
This aged ace-level superhuman possessed a “time-space control” ability.
Moreover, in his field of vision, any object carrying “extraordinary power” would emit unique glimmers of light, like fireflies unable to hide in the night.
The subtle magical fluctuations that ordinary people could not perceive appeared as beacons before his eyes.
At this moment, his figure took a step forward in the gel-like substance, but it seemed as if he was accelerated, pressed under a fast-forward button.
Meanwhile, for everyone else within the range of his ability, it appeared as if they had fallen into a slow-motion replay.
In this comparative ebb and flow.
The elder’s speed was so fast that everyone present struggled to react.
He initially intended to shorten the distance to his opponent and take away the authority before they could react.
However, upon getting closer, he was stunned.
—There’s nothing?
The sharp vision of his could only detect those two artificially refined fantasy weapons of black and white, along with the pair of boots at the girl’s feet glowing faintly with magical light.
Apart from these two items, there was no trace of any other “extraordinary objects” on her at all.
These two pieces of equipment were merely the most common artificially crafted fantasy weapons, and while customized, were not the authority he was targeting.
“…How could this be?” The unexpected outcome made the elder mutter to himself, frowning.
At the same time, an indescribable sense of crisis surged up like a cold wave in his heart.
His intuition issued a strong warning—
He was marked by the other party.
But reason told him, that’s impossible.
Within the range of his powers, even the several ace-level superhumans behind him might not be able to clearly capture his figure, let alone a student.
At the same time.
Above the dome of the gymnasium,
A gigantic eye composed of azure lightning silently hovered in the air, overlooking the battlefield below, taking everything within the “transparent gel” into full view.
Although everyone within the “transparent gel” experienced a slow perception of time, the judgment power from “Azure Lightning Authority” still precisely locked onto the elder and synchronized the information to Nagi’s consciousness.
So, almost the instant the elder activated his ability.
Nagi had already pulled the trigger in advance.
She didn’t need to aim.
Because the condemnation power of the “Azure Lightning Authority” granted her the effect of “all attacks will surely hit”.
This meant, regardless of how the opponent evaded, hid, or slowed down, as long as she pulled the trigger, hitting was the predetermined outcome.
Blue arcs crackled silently in the gun barrel, and a bullet infused with the power of condemnation, before being fired, was engulfed by a quietly emerging white mist.
In fact, the bullet’s characteristics of “ignoring trajectory” and “hitting the target” did not require the “Mist Authority”; mere use of the “Azure Lightning Authority” could achieve this.
At this moment, the white mist that accompanied the bullet’s manifestation was Nagi’s wish made in her heart.
The ability of the “Mist Authority” typically consists of two stages.
The first stage is “making a wish” and “realizing” that wish, then obtaining a “cost” from it.
The second stage is turning the accumulated “cost power” into an “illusion extremely close to reality”.
At this moment, the wish Nagi made was—
To hit.
Nagi softly made a “wish” in her heart.
The bullet that was shot out, even amid the spacetime slowed by the “gel”, still appeared before the elder at full speed, piercing straight towards the weakness in his body already identified by the “Judgment Eye”—the knee joint.
At this time, although the elder released his magical power, he did not use it for defense.
As a result, upon this precise hit, his knee buckled, and he collapsed to the ground.
To outsiders, this scene seemed somewhat comical, as if he had suddenly tripped over flat ground.
As the elder fell, his abilities were forcibly interrupted, and the flow of time within the gym restored to normal.
Simultaneously.
Nagi’s previously made “wish” was “realized”, and from it, she almost obtained “cost power” to a degree of “creating something from nothing”.
This “cost power”, transformed by the “Mist Authority” into the illusion of “magical power”.
Though it was an illusion, because it was extremely close to reality, it could be utilized as real magical power until it completely vanished.
This was the combat method she conceived; otherwise, with her level of magical power, it would be hard to keep up with ace-level combats.
But if “magical power is infinite”, coupled with “high-concentration magical power”.
Then even with just the beginner’s like “stats”, Nagi could also manage to cope with the battle at hand.
……
……
“W-What do you mean ‘I won’t hold back’!? That fall you took looked so fake!” The younger sister of the ace duo stared in shock at the earlier scene, her face filled with disbelief and speechlessness.
The elder suddenly falling just under 5 meters from his opponent was rather ridiculous.
“This performance is even more outrageous than my sister’s,” she couldn’t help but think in exasperation, suppressing the twitch of her expression as she hurriedly went to help her sister, who was sprawled on the ground.
“Sister! Are you okay!?” she shouted in a feigned panic, bending down and whispering, “(Wasn’t your reaction just a bit too exaggerated?)”
However, her sister, whom she was supporting, slowly opened her eyes, a look of unexpected — confusion on her face.
Yet, as she opened her eyes while in her sister’s arms, she appeared completely bewildered.
“What… what happened? Just now… what on earth happened…?”
“Eh?”
Hearing this, the younger sister froze for a moment, initially thinking her sister was acting dumb to brush her off, but just seeing her chaotic expression made it clear she wasn’t acting.
Having grown up together, she could tell her sister’s expression was not a joke.
So it meant—
“Could that girl really have the strength to rival an ace-level superhuman…?”
The younger sister pondered while turning her head.
At that moment, as if responding to her speculation.
The two remaining ace-level superhumans moved simultaneously.
Their forms shook, resembling two afterimages tearing through space, dashing linearly toward the girl—
Leading the charge was Misa.
Widely recognized on site as the strongest ace-level superhuman — “Ace Medusa”.
With the name of the mythological creature “Medusa”, she was a beast master who signed a contract with the god-level fantasy creature “Medusa”, endowed with the ability to “petrify all that she gazes upon”.
At this instant, as Misa rushed straight towards Nagi, emerald green magical power boiled and flowed over her body like poison.
The air behind her was forcibly distorted, transforming into the menacing phantom of the fantasy creature — “Medusa”.
In the next moment, her figure merged with the phantom of Medusa.
In a high-level technique of “contract beast assimilation”, part of the power of the fantasy creature resided in her, causing her appearance to undergo drastic changes: her eyes transformed into golden serpentine pupils, her emerald hair replaced by patterned serpents, flicking their tongues restlessly, her long legs morphed into a serpent-covered tail, presenting an enchanting and bewitching form.
She fully transformed into the legendary “Medusa”.
At the same time, the bald judge who followed closely behind no longer concealed his power.
Originally planning only to handle the situation casually, witnessing the “Soul Fusion Authority”, a power capable of shattering understanding, piqued his curiosity about what the opponent’s strength entailed.
Moreover, since Misa right next to him had directly invoked “contract beast assimilation”, he couldn’t afford to show too much leniency—
His eyes suddenly erupted with intense red magical brilliance, instantly igniting like fiery flames.
No, this wasn’t a metaphor.
Those were indeed flames.
The flames consumed his eyeballs, cheeks, even the flesh of his entire body.
His flesh rapidly burned away in the blaze, leaving behind a gruesome skeleton, enveloped in flames, like a devil returning from hell; the two rib bones he ripped from his chest morphed into sharp blades amid the roaring flames.
Ace Hell Judge.
Both ace-level superhumans exhibited — their full power to be displayed in public.
Unbeknownst to all, the atmosphere on the battlefield subtly shifted.
Nagi was initially the candidate in this “simulated combat”.
Yet now, she seemed like the true examiner.
Standing alone, she faced the challenges posed by several ace-level superhumans.
“Thank you,” Nagi couldn’t help but whisper.
She never expected they would be so courteous.
—To be killed.
A new wish was once again made.
In reality, Nagi wasn’t worried about them using full power; rather, she was more concerned they would hold back.
Her current physical strength was barely better than an ordinary person… no, perhaps even inferior. The physical tests illustrated that magical power with authority characteristics did not strengthen her body.
Thus now, even a small attack might result in her “death”.
This was what Nagi hoped for.
Because now, “death” could stand on her side.
The “Hermes Boots” beneath Nagi activated, though her speed could not compare to Misa and the bald judge, the mobility equal to that of general superhumans still enabled her to shoot the bullets in her hand towards the approaching duo while maintaining movement.
However—
The enemies before her were no longer the unsuspecting, underestimating elder or either of the ace twins.
Instead, they were two ace-level superhumans who had revealed their true capabilities.
Confronted by the oncoming “condemnation bullets”, neither of them showed any signs of hesitation.
Misa charged ahead, her pupils flickering with eerie green magical light.
“Click—!”
Accompanied by a slight and crisp petrifying sound, Nagi suddenly transformed into a grayish-white stone structure starting from below her thighs.
With her lower limbs locked in stone, she seemed nailed to the spot, instantly losing all mobility advantage.
And almost at the same time, the Hell Judge approached like a skeleton fireball, flames roaring mercilessly around him, and the bone blades drew streaks of intense scorching fire.
That was — a dual-edged blade of death that burned away all obstacles.
Hellfire raged and roiled in the air, and as the blades intertwined, it felt as though even space itself was distorted by the heat.
Even though this ace had no intention of truly using his blade to cut her in half, the oppressive sensation still felt tangible and nearly suffocating.
However, facing the oncoming flames of death, Nagi revealed a fierce and determined smile, and instead, tilted her head to meet them head-on.
The crimson flames and the emerald petrifying magical energy collided and intertwined before her, transforming into a brilliant yet dangerous arc of magical power that sliced through the entire battlefield.
But just as this line between life and death was about to fall—
Golden afterglow poured down from the heavens.
Like a spotlight shining in the center of a stage, the beam penetrated the battlefield, landing precisely on Nagi.
The boundary between life and death was blurred by the “Dusk Hour”.
“Death itself” was retraced by the “Dusk Authority”.
The petrified legs quietly disintegrated amid the golden light, returning to their agile and slender form.
The head, which was about to absorb a lethal blow, instantly reverted to its status of being “unharmed”.
As if nothing had ever occurred—
In a mere blink, Nagi’s figure returned to its original state, unharmed, standing at the center of the battlefield.
After a brief interlude of clash.
With the aid of the “Hermes Boots”, Nagi distanced herself from the two ace-level superhumans emanating green and crimson brilliance.
She boldly faced those two ace superhumans, yet remained unscathed.
This scene prompted the students present to erupt in cheers.
